Shraga Feivel Zimmerman Explained

Religion:Judaism
Office1:Av Beis Din of Federation of Synagogues
Term Start1:January 2020
Office2:Rov of Gateshead
Term Start2:2008
Predecessor2:Bezalel Rakow
Term End2:January 2020
Office4:Dayan, Kehal Adass Yeshurun, Washington Heights
Office3:Rov, Khal Bnei Ashkenaz, Monsey
Birth Place:New Jersey
Alma Mater:Mir Yeshiva (Brooklyn)
Spouse:Chaya Reena Zimmerman
Predecessor1:Yaakov Lichtenstein
Honorific Prefix:Rabbi
Term Start4:1996
Term End4:2001

Shraga Feivel Halevy Zimmerman[1] is the rov and av beis din of the Federation of Synagogues in London. He accepted the position on the 30th of June 2019,[2] but took office in January 2020. Rabbi Zimmerman succeeded Dayan Lichtenstein as head of the organisation's Shechita.[3] He took up this appointment following years serving as rabbi and av beis din of the Jewish community in Gateshead, United Kingdom, where he succeeded Bezalel Rakow,[4] who died in 2003. Rav Zimmerman has previously served as a dayan for the Kehal Adass Yeshurun kehilloh in Washington Heights,[5] and later as Rov of Khal Bnei Ashkenaz of Monsey, the Haredi German Ashkenazic community in Monsey, New York.[6]

Overview

Zimmerman's induction in Gateshead[7] was attended by several Haredi rabbis in England, including Rabbi Ephraim Padwa of UOHC and Menachem Mendel Schneebalg of Manchester's Machzikei Hadath community. One of the changes he made was to allow the opening of thecommunity's "first kosher restaurant" with the proviso that "to avoid unsupervised interaction between the sexes" there are separate hours for men and women.[1]

In January 2020 he left his Gateshead position, taking up his appointment as av beis din of the Federation.[8]

Early life

The New Jersey-born Zimmerman[1] grew up in Borough Park, Brooklyn. He is an alumnus of the Mirrer yeshiva in Flatbush and Rabbi Dovid Soloveitchik's Brisk yeshiva in Jerusalem[9] and a close disciple of Rabbis Shmuel Berenbaum and Meshulam Dovid Soloveitchik. Prior to that, he studied at Beer Shmuel in Borough Park, a yeshiva that was founded by his grandfather, Rabbi Yosef Yonah Tzvi Horowitz,[10] rabbi of Unsdorf and Frankfurt and in Letchworth during the war years. He had succeeded Solomon Breuer as Rabbi of K'hal Adath Jeshurun in Frankfurt, Germany, until World War II.[11] That grandfather had named the yeshiva after an ancestor known as the Be'er Shmuel,[12] Rav Shmuel Rosenberg of Unsdorf (1842–1919).

Shailatext project

When Zimmerman arrived 2020 to his new post in London, he helped with the Shailatext project, a people-powered technology based process for answering Halachic questions, especially for "those who have not yet found a rabbi."[11] An interviewer noted in mid-2019 that "Zimmerman estimates that he has answered 200,000 sh’eilos from all over the United Kingdom while in Gateshead — in person, over the phone, and by email and text."[13] [14] [15]

Personal

He is married to Rebbetzin Chaya Reena Zimmerman.[11]

References

Sources

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Liphshiz . Cnaan . 3 October 2017 . Why Orthodox Jews are flocking to this gritty English town . Jewish Telegraphic Agency . 20 September 2018.
  2. Web site: 1 July 2019 . Federation UK on Twitter: "Delighted to announce the appointment of Rav Shraga Feivel Zimmerman as Rov & Av Beis Din #FederationRov. At a l'chaim for our Dayonim, Rabbonim & Trustees, he said: "B"sd I look forward to building upon the achievements of my predecessors ... to continue serving klal Yisroel." . 2020-03-11 . Twitter.
  3. News: . Gateshead Rav in Talks to Head Federation of Synagogues . Doreen Wachmann . 19 June 2019.
  4. Web site: Speker . Faga . 2024-10-15 . Gateshead gets its man after five-year search . 2024-11-20 . . en.
  5. Web site: 2019-06-30 . Rav Shraga Feivel Zimmerman Appointed Av Bais Din of London Federation Bais Din, Set to Depart Gateshead . 2024-11-21 . Matzav.com . en-US.
  6. News: . Gateshead Rav Named Head of Federation of Synagogues. 4 July 2019.
  7. Web site: Hachtara of Rabbi Zimmerman in Gateshead, England . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20080519211623/http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=31400 . 19 May 2008 . 17 January 2022 . The Yeshiva World.
  8. News: The Jewish Press. Group Splinters Off From London Board for Shechita. 8 January 2020.
  9. Web site: 2020-01-15 . Rabbi S F Zimmerman . 2024-11-21 . Kehillas Federation . en-GB.
  10. . Yitzchok Frankfurter . 14 February 2018 . Drawing the Line . 355 . 80–82.
  11. Mishpacha. Next Stop, London. Yonoson Rosenblum. Jonathan Rosenblum. 10 July 2019.
  12. Web site: Novellae of the Be'er Shmuel . Virtual Judaica . 29 June 2015.
  13. 50/day
  14. Web site: Ask the Federation - new ShailaText service. .
  15. Yalla Magazine . 25 February 2020 . Federation Beis Din's Shailatext service.